Common Vines & Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Cissampelos pareira L., Sp. Pl. 1031. 1753.

Fig. 125. A-J

Dioecious vine, slightly woody, twining, attainig 3-6 m in length. Stems slender, cylindrical, glabrous or pilose. Leaves alternate, chartaceous, broadly ovate to almost circular, 4-12 × 4-10 cm, the apex rounded, obtuse, emarginate, usually mucronate, the base cordiform, subtruncate, usually peltate; upper surface glabrous, yellowish green or grayish, dull; lower surface pale green, almost whitish, sparsely or densely pubescent, with the venation palmate, prominent, the margin revolute, crenate; petioles cylindrical, pubescent, 2-7 cm long, with the base swollen. Inflorescences of axillary cymes or cauliflorous; bracts of the pistillate inflorescences foliaceous, ovate, pilose. Flowers 1-1.5 mm long, greenish. Calyx pilose. Drupe globose, redorange, 4-5 mm in diameter, fleshy, partially covered by a bract. Seed horseshoe-shaped.

Phenology: Flowering throughout the year.

Status: Native, very common.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 826; 1868; 2219; 2439; 3126; 5343; 7090; 11312; Axelrod, F. 6003; Britton, N.L. 126; 667; Heller, A.A. 332; 1283; Otero, J. 564; Sargent, F.H. 223; Shafer, J.A. 2482; 3255; Sintenis, P. 326; 5186; 5354; Stevenson, J.A. 259; 435; 1971; Underwood, L.M. 305; 321; 350; 357; Wilson, P. 282.
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